GOLDEN GLIMPSES

Death Of A Jockey Puts Racing In Perspective

September 11, 1999

By ED GOLDEN

At two o’clock, I was shaking his hand, congratulating him on winning last year’s riding championship and wishing him good luck for the upcoming meet..

An hour later, J.C. Gonzalez was dead.

It was an atmosphere of surreal irony. On the midway of the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona on Thursday, Sept. 8, wafting among Ferris wheels and merry-go-rounds, were the tempting aromas of hot dogs, onions, corn on the cob, French fries and other palatable favorites.

On the race track, just yards away from those lifely pleasures, was the irreversible smell of death.

Jose Carlos Gonzalez, a serious-minded young kid from Yahualica, Jalisco, Mexico, had won the Fairplex Park riding championship last year as an apprentice.

When he lost his "bug" last Oct. 8, winning became scarce. He even parted ways with his agent, Vic Lipton, a Yosemite Sam of a guy who has been around the race track a few times.

Gonzalez tried to improve his business by moving to Northern California. But he returned to Del Mar for a few rides before coming to Fairplex, where he won 28 races in 18 days last year.

He was about to defend his Fairplex Park title when his life was cut short in a blink of an eye in the fifth race on opening day.

Gonzalez was aboard Wolfhunt, a 4-year-old English-bred colt who was leading the 1 1/16-mile race for $5,000 claimers when he broke down on the final turn, unseating Gonzalez.

Accomodator, ridden by veteran Danny Sorenson, tripped while passing the fallen horse, throwing Sorenson to the ground. Both riders were taken to the Fairplex first aid station, where Dr. Neal Archer pronounced Gonzalez dead of massive head trauma.

Wolfhunt, trained by Sandy Shulman, broke both forelegs and was euthanized. Accomodator was not seriously injured.

Sorenson, 41, came within an inch of losing his right eye but luckily suffered only a deep gash over the eye.

"J.C. was a very good rider and very good man," said a tearful Sorenson as he described the accident. "I’ve been there a lot when something goes wrong and riders fall in a race. I tried to protect myself by scrambling underneath the rail. I felt myself bleeding. You have no idea at that point if you’re hurt or not, so I laid there waiting for the EMT’s (Emergency Medical Team) to get there.

"I had so much dirt in my eyes I couldn’t open them or see anything," Sorenson said, his voice quivering. "I waited for them to strap me aboard (the stretcher) and haul me to first aid. I knew who I was following (in the race), so I knew which rider had fallen. I asked about J.C.’s condition, and the doctor--I don’t know his name--told me that he didn’t make it. Being that I was hit in the head awful hard, I wasn’t sure if that’s what I heard correctly, so I asked him again. He said, ‘I won’t lie to you. He did not make it.’ J.C. was one of my closest friends."

By now, Sorenson’s emotions had understandably spilled out full force.

Agent Richie Silverstein handles business for Fairplex fixture Martin Pedroza, a deeply pious man who left the track downtrodden after the tragedy, supported by friends at both sides. Silverstein offered condolences to Lipton, who had recently reunited with Gonzalez.

"I told Vic," said Silverstein, "These words won’t console you, but there are drive-by shootings every day where innocent young people die, and there are killings at convenience stores. At least J.C. died doing what he loved to do."

Unlike the avaricious NFL after JFK’s assassination, the track, on a move initiated by the jockeys, canceled the rest of the day’s races.

It was the first racing fatality in the 61-year history of the Los Angeles County Fair and the first in Southern California since Alvaro Pineda was killed at Santa Anita in 1975. Jockey Burleigh Turetski died during a workout at Fairplex in a 1982 mishap.

The jockey colony mourned in varying degrees of emotion. It was unnerving watching Octavio Vergara descending the narrow stairway of Pomona’s 1930’s style jockeys’ room, sobs contorting his weather-beaten face.

And it was strange to see David Flores, coming off the best meet of his life at Del Mar, sitting transfixed in his street clothes, staring into nothingness from behind his Oakleys. He had been scheduled to ride in the next race.

Just how does a jockey climb back into the saddle a day after racing’s ultimate tragedy?

"You know it’s something that could happen," said Fernando Valenzuela. "But the moment you start letting that interfere with your riding, it’s time to turn in your license. Unfortunately, that’s the way the business is. As a professional athlete you know that on any given day you could be in good health, and the next day, you could be hurt or not here at all. You have to have faith in God and keep on going."

J.C. Gonzalez would have been 24 years old on Oct. 5.

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